A 45-year-old Rhode Island man, who contacted a local 11-year-old autistic girl through the Internet, will spend 15 years in prison on four child porn charges.
Paulo B. Tomas, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, was arrested in January by Rhode Island State Police. The charges were related to a child sexual exploitation investigation in Bedford County.

Two Bedford teenagers are facing additional charges for property damage incidents that occurred in February.
William A. Bailey, 18, of Bedford, is currently facing 22 charges in General District Court. The most recent charges, for which he was charged on Aug. 26, are for incidents that occurred on the north side of Bedford County.
Those charges include:

Ten young adults came with the Old Dominion Job Corps Center to visit the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office last week. The purpose was to present law enforcement to them as a possible career.

Captain Tim Hayden and Captain Mike Miller spoke to the group. Miller is in charge of the operations division and Hayden heads up the community division. Both men have been with the Sheriff’s Office for 32 years.

After a lifetime of service to Bedford County, former Delegate Lacey Edward Putney has permanently left the county. He died Saturday morning, Aug. 26, at the age of 89.

Putney was a Big Island native, growing up in a family with tight finances.
“We were a poor family, but everybody else was, so you didn’t think of yourself as poor,” commented his brother, Macon Putney.

The annual Horse and Hound Wine Festival took place on a hot, humid day, but at least the dogs got to stay cool in the pond. The festival is always held on the second Saturday of July, which fell on July 8 this year. The event drew 3,000 people, with no official count on the number of dogs although there were plenty of the furry, friendly creatures accompanying their favorite humans.

You drop your cell phone and, when you pick it up you discover the screen is cracked. What do you do?

You could mutter some bad words, but a more constructive approach would be to take it to PhoneAxiom. The business started in Lynchburg three years ago and now has a Bedford shop, located on South Bridge Street beside Clam Diggers.
“We do repairs on phones, tablets, computers and game systems,” said Mark Pauley, PhoneAxiom’s owner.

The Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce held a Town Hall lunch last week. The event gave Chamber members the opportunity to hear from local government officials and to ask questions.
Town officials spoke about growth. Councilman Steve Rush said the meals tax is bringing in significant revenue which lets the town provide incentives for businesses. He also noted that Bedford has a hotel on the horizon. Work on a business class hotel in Harmony, on the west end of town, is slated to begin next year.